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Charity Golf Day to Fund Water Safety Programme

Some 1600 school children will be better equipped to handle rough waters thanks to a charity golf tournament.

The annual fundraiser is a joint venture between the John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation and Honda New Zealand and will be played at Whitford Park Golf Club on March 16.

The foundation will use part of the money raised to deliver the fast-moving water safety programme at Vector Wero White Water Rafting Park in Manukau while Honda is putting up a Honda Civic RS for the first player to hit a hole-in-one on the par three ninth hole.

The Foundation's general manager Rick Pickard? says the programme will save lives.

"Drowning rates in New Zealand are among the highest in the world per capita and a lot of them happen in moving water. This programme help children prepare for such conditions.

"They will learn how to get in and out of a boat while wearing life jackets and learn how to cross a rough stretch of water.

"Children who attended our holiday session at Wero just loved it. Ten schools have been invited to attend the first sessions in term one and within 60 minutes of receiving the invitation, six schools called back to say yes they definitely want to be involved."

Transport to and from the water park and the cost of instructions are all part of the free deal thanks to the money the golf tournament will raise.

More than $40,000 in prizes are on offer.

Email: margaret.clarke@fieldofdreams.org.nz or phone: 09 262 5781 for more details